The ephemeria of fame
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Date: 21 February 2012
Warsaw Alive!, a guide to Warsaw, takes us on a tour of some of the cit'y's street art, district by district.
Some of the works are legal - works created with the permission of the authorities – and illegal works, sometimes called ‘contraband’ art found on pavements, buildings, fences, electricity boxes.
But remember: there is no guarantee you’ll see the illegal works again next week or even the next day - they may already have been painted over or covered over with a poster. If that happens don’t give up but just try looking for street art in a different place.
CITY CENTRE
Film pillars (legal) - during the Street Art Doping Festival in 2009 Piotr Janowczyk painted portraits of personalities from the world of cinema of the pillars of Trasa Łazienkowska.
Cultural Personalities of the 20th century Warsaw (legal) – a year after the event on Cypel Czerniakowski, and this time on both sides of Trasa Łazienkowska, Piotr Janowczyk created a gallery of 25 portraits of personalities from the 20th century Warsaw cultural world, including some film personalities.
Gallery at Sedlaczka Roundabout (legal) – Sedlaczka Rounadbout became an unofficial gallery of street art artists.
Some of works are associated with film (e.g. a mural entitled Crime Story made by Aleksandar Ćirlić). In his painting you’ll see, among others, Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry, Bogusław Linda in Psy (Dogs, a cult Polish film from the 1990s) and Robert de Niro in The Untouchables.
A Homer Simpson mural was painted by none other than...an artist nicknamed Simpson. The Simpsons are being shown in the USA for the 23rd consecutive season. Horace Horsecollar is another one painted by Simpson. The character was first shown in a 1936 film The Plow Boy, becoming one of the first cartoon characters of Disney.
The Avenue of Stars (legal) - created in 2009 in ‘Wiecha’Passage (a pedestrian-only passage in the centre of Warsaw). On the plaques set into the pavement you’ll find famous quotations of world cinema stars.
Hatifnats (illegal) - on the side wall (from ul. Traugutta) of the Academy of Fine Arts building you’ll find a couple of stencils showing characters from the TV kids series The Moomins.
Little My (illegal) - another character from The Moomins. In Warsaw you’ll find her in two different versions: in Pole Mokotowskie Park she’s a tiny, white, hard to spot stencil and in the Old Town (at ul. Przyrynek 2) she’s painted in black on one of the church walls.
Hans Kloss (illegal) - he’s the main character from a cultblack and white Polish TV series Stawka większa niż życie (More than life at stake). One of his portraits can be found on a pillar at ul. Moniuszki 8, and second on the inspection flap on the wall of school at the junction of ul.Szkolna and ul. Rysia.
Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart (illegal) - Ilsa and Rick from Casablanca. The classic was made in 1943 and many of the quotations from the filmhave entered the language.
Milla Jovovich (illegal) - here she’s painted as Leeloo, the character she played in Luc Besson’s film The Fifth Element.
Cookie Monster (illegal) - a character from Sesame Street is the only street art sticker connected with films I managed to find on the underpass sign standing next to the bus stop between Ujazdowski Park and Łazienki Park.
Angelina Jolie (illegal) - she’s painted on the wall at ul.Kubusia Puchatka (Winnie the Pooh Street) posing en face, with a little grin on her face.
Vincent Cassel (illegal) - the French actor is portrayed as in the movie Hatred, where he played Vinz, living in one of the community housing developments in the suburbs of Paris.
Black cat, white cat (illegal) - the title of this work is connected with the film by the Yugoslavian director Emir Kusturica, which tells the story of the Gypsy community living on a Danube river bank.
Hugo Weaving (illegal) - a stencil at Al. Jerozolimskie 49shows Agent Smith, the main opponent of Neo in the science-fiction trilogy Matrix.
BEMOWO
Donald Duck (legal) - thanks to the Fundacja Sztuki Zewnętrznej (Outdoor Art Foundation), North Barracks in Fort Bema (part of Warsaw Fortress) was opened to the public in July 2011. In one of its rooms Simpson painted the 1934 version of Donald Duck.
Dexter and Weasel (illegal) - Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory and Weasel from I Am Weasel are characters from the popular CN cartoon series produced by Hanna-BarberaStudios.
OCHOTA
Marilyn Monroe (illegal) - she became an icon of cinema and sex appeal in the 1950s. Her portrait here was painted from one of the most famous of her pictures and can be found at ul. Gójecka 68 and 74.
Garfield (illegal) - presents the fat, selfish cat created by Jim Davis. Since 1982 Garfield has starred in numerous TV series and cinema movies. In Warsaw you can meet him at ul. Okińskiego 4 and 6.
Someone from TV (illegal) - a stencil of a man holding a microphone with a TV sign on it.
URSYNóW
Wall-E (illegal) - this stencil you’ll find at al. K.E.N.60, on the last floor of the car park just behind Multikino cinema. It shows aWaste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth Class - WALL-E) - one of the main characters of the movie.
Mickey Mouse (legal) - a character drawn by Simpson is a variation over Mickey Mouse - he’s dressed as a terrorist here.
WOLA
Tytus, Romek and A’Tomek in the Warsaw Uprising Museum (legal) - these are characters well-known from Polish comic books, although they have also appeared on the big screen in 2002 film entitled Tytus, Romek and Tomek. The mural in the Warsaw Uprising Museum (ul. Grzybowska 79) was made by Papcio Chmiel (the author of comic book series) in 2009 and presents our heroes in the times of the Warsaw Uprising.
Black Pete (illegal) - Peg-Leg Pete aka Black Pete first appeared in the episodes of Disney’s Alice Comedies in the 1920, so before the Mickey Mouse was invented. In Black Death squat building in ul. Słodowiecka, he’s presented as a black character with his mouth wearing signs of blood (made by Simpson).
ŻOLIBORZ
Groucho Marx (illegal) - the Marx brothers were popular film actors starring in American comedies in the 1920s and 1930s. Today you can see them in the area of ul. Bohomolca19.
MOKOTóW
Symbol of the closing of broadcast programming on TV (illegal) - during the Communism era in Poland there were only state TV channels. When all the scheduled programmes ended, a symbol of a round sign appeared on the screen. You can now see this symbol at ul. Wiktorska 55.
PRAGA POŁUDNIE (SOUTH PRAGA)
James Dean (illegal) - pop-culture icon and 1950s film star. His stencil can be found on the crossroads of ul. Ateńska and Wał Miedzeszyński.
Sailors (illegal) - they come from On the Town musical from 1949, which shows a day spent on the land by three sailors. Go and see them at ul. Saska 57.
PRAGA PóŁNOC (NORTH PRAGA)
Bas-reliefs on the elevation of Nove Kino Praha (New Praha Cinema), (legal) - on the elevation of the cinema at ul. Jagiellońska 26 you’ll see sandstone bas-reliefs of famous Polish actors and actresses. Their author was the winner of the sculpture in architecture competition. Jury from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw chose the project by Jerzy Dobrzański and the bas-reliefs were made by Piotr Banasik. These sculptures are first such monumental bas-reliefs made in Warsaw - each of them measures 4.5 by 1.5 meters.
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Małgorzata Jankowska was born in Warsaw. An incurable optimist interested in how people attempt to familiarize public space surrounding them. She decided to take part in this project tempted by the opportunity to discover a new, unknown face of Warsaw.
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